Politics and international relations: LibSmart training sessions

LibSmart is the Digital and Information Literacy programme run by the Subject Liaison Librarians (SLLs). It is designed to support students and staff with the academic practice, information literacy, and employability skills needed to get the best out of time at Brunel and beyond.

Workshop information

Find it! Cite it! sessions are a mixture of drop-in and bookable workshops. They are designed to help students find good quality, relevant information for completing assignments, dissertations and research. They will also provide advice on avoiding plagiarism and referencing correctly.

An indepth look at finding good quality, relevant literature for assignment and dissertations.

Beyond Google

Always start your research with Google? Find out what else is available.

Getting the most out of ebooks

Learn how to use books effectively, including how to search, highlight and annotate the text.

Getting to know FT.Com

Learn how to access, navigate and get the best out of the Library's subscription to the Financial Times.

Getting started with Bloomberg

An introduction to the financial markets database, covering: what’s available, booking a terminal and setting up an account, how to find your way around, and how to get help.

Finding market research and company information

An introduction to the databases that contain this information, including reports and data in the market research databases, and journal databases

The social media sessions will provide an introduction to students and staff on how to utilise tools such as LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs to, amongst many other things, keep up to date, manage your professional reputation and develop strong networks.

A half hour workshop on tips and tricks for getting the most out of Twitter

Getting the most out of LinkedIn

A practical session on using tips and tricks within LinkedIn to raise your profile, research and plot career paths, and connect with the right people.

Manage your online reputation

A practical session on the importance of managing your online identity and how you can make improvements.

Using Twitter for your studies

This practical session covers the basics of using Twitter to raise your profile and keep up to date with relevant information for your subject area.

Getting started with blogs and blogging

Aimed at researchers, this practical session covers finding and collating blogs within your research area and setting up your own blog.

Using Twitter in your module

Aimed at staff, this practical session looks at how students can be encouraged to use Twitter for their learning and how you can use it within your course.

Keeping up to date

As a researcher, you will want to know about the latest research being published in your field. Ideally, you would like to know about research, even before it's published. In this session, find out about alerting services, finding conference papers and making contacts.

The employability sessions will provide students with the ability to research potential companies they may work for in the future.

Some of the sessions will also focus on how to get that extra edge to your cv by becoming certified in some of the databases used in industry.

An overview of the certification options provided by Bloomberg, including what they are, how to access them and how they can benefit employability for those seeking careers in finance and investment. Learn about BMC (Bloomberg Market Concepts), and BESS (Bloomberg Essentials Online Training programme).

Lexis/Westlaw Bootcamp - certification time

Lexis and Westlaw both offer certification to our students. This session will outline how to get started and the benefits of doing so.

Finding company information/researching employers

Using databases to find information about employers (and their competitors), and their market and industry settings when networking, applying for jobs, and preparing for interviews.

Getting started with Bloomberg

An introduction to the financial markets database, covering: what’s available, booking a terminal and setting up an account, how to find your way around, and how to get help.

Finding market research and company information

An introduction to the databases that contain this information, including reports and data in the market research databases, and journal databases

The Research Support sessions are a mixture of drop-in and bookable workshops and lectures.

They will help researchers with activities ranging from finding theses to finding datasets to creating and maintaining an online presence. Book a workshop via the Calendar of Events.

Data and statistics library guide by Business Librarians, Alice Cann and Kanwal Virdee

Session title

Description

Finding theses

If you are writing a thesis, it's a good idea to look at what's been done in previous years. Find out how to locate and access Brunel, British, and International theses.

Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Patents

Patents are a form of intellectual property, which can provide useful technical information. Find out more about more about IP and copyright, and how to locate and access British and International Patents.

Standards

Standards are intended to ensure compatibility between products and appliances from different suppliers. Find out how to locate and access British and International Standards.

Systematic reviews

Find out what goes into creating a rigorous systematic review.

Using Twitter for research

A practical session on the basics of using Twitter to raise your profile and keep up to date with relevant information for your research area.

Getting started with blogs and blogging

A practical session on finding and collating blogs within your research area and setting up your own blog.

Keeping up to date

As a researcher, you will want to know about the latest research being published in your field. Ideally, you would like to know about research, even before it's published. In this session, find out about alerting services, finding conference papers and making contacts.

Introduction to finding data and statistics

A broad overview of where to find some of the more popular datasets and statistics required by students.

What’s in….?

A practical session delving into the content of various databases, eg FAME, Osiris, Bankscope etc.

Getting started with Bloomberg

Weekly practical sessions on the basics of Bloomberg; including booking a slot, logging in and navigating the database.

The Academic Support sessions are a mixture of drop-in and bookable workshops which cover a range of topics from getting your online reading list ready for students to trying out a variety of social media tools for use in the classroom and in your own professional life.